International Joementum
Via Jesus General, meet Lee Boggs, just one of the many reasons why current US healthcare policy is immoral, cruel and wrong.
Given that that statement’s so blatantly demonstrable, why is New Labour bringing US healthcare policy to the UK?
And why, because of their doing so, might British taxpayers be repaying an electoral favour done for the White House?
The White House is lobbying British ministers to allow the world’s main drug companies unrestricted access to the NHS as part of a package of free market reforms for the service. The US government is positioning itself behind the giant pharmaceutical firms, predominantly based in America, which have been piling pressure on the body that approves drugs for use in hospitals and for prescription by GPs.
[…]
In a surprising intervention, the US deputy health secretary, Alex Azar, forced the issue in London yesterday, ahead of talks with officials following a trip to the US last week by the health secretary, Patricia Hewitt. He said attempts to use rationing mechanisms such as Nice to cut soaring drugs bills would stifle innovation – an argument that is constantly made by the pharmaceutical industry.
But why is the White House pushing this now – don’t they have other priorities, like Iraq perhaps? This push seems a bit small-potatoes, given the current crisis in foreign policy. So why the urgency?
Maybe, just maybe, they have an electoral favour to settle. But whoever with?
The pharmaceutical industry lobby is a growth industry ; there’s lots of lovely moolah to be made by Republicans and Democrats alike in promoting drug company interests. Take Joe Leiberman, the Bush-kissing, war-mongering, Israel-boosting, Zionist former Democratic VP candidate for example, who split the Democratic vote in Connecticut and nearly lost them the Senate by running as an independent after losing the the party nomination to the unknown Ned Lamont in the primary.
After an unpleasant campaign Leiberman retained his seat, but will sit as an independent Democrat – it’s quite possible that his could be the vote that settles a hung issue in the Senate, say on Medicare drug benefit or FDA regulations, just to give a couple of off-the-cuff examples that handily spring to mind.
So the White House and the Republican leadership (such as it has left) needs to keep Leiberman sweet if they want to get any of their policies, including those on drugs, insurance and healthcare, through Congress.
Co-incidentally enough, Joe’s wife Hadassah is a drug industry lobbyist, and Joe himself is not averse to a little cosying-up:
Sen. Lieberman has long been known to cultivate the insurance and pharmaceutical industries, which provide jobs in his home state and contributions to his campaign fund. But he has literally been sleeping with one of their Washington representatives ever since his wife, Hadassah, joined Hill & Knowlton last year. The legendary lobbying and PR firm hired her as a ?senior counselor? in its ?health and pharmaceuticals practice.?
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When a senator?s wife works for one of the capital?s largest lobby shops, appearances tend to matter. In this case, something happened immediately that didn?t look very good.
Mrs. Lieberman signed up with Hill & Knowlton in March 2005. The firm?s clients included GlaxoSmithKline, the British pharmaceutical giant that manufactures flu vaccines along with many other drugs. In April 2005, Sen. Lieberman introduced a bill that would award an array of new government ?incentives? to companies like GSK to produce more vaccines?notably patent extensions on other products, at a cost of billions to governments and consumers.
That legislation provoked irritated comment by his hometown newspaper, the New Haven Register. In an editorial headlined ?Lieberman Crafts Drug Company Perk,? the Register noted that his bill was even more generous to the pharmaceutical industry than a similar proposal by the Senate Republican leadership. ?The government can offer incentives and guarantees for needed public health measures,? said the editorial. ?But it should not write a blank check, as these bills do, to the pharmaceutical industry that has such a large cost to the public with what may be an uncertain or dubious return.?
Mrs. Joementum does very well for her clients, whilst at the same time doing not that badly at all for the household bank accounts. Lieberman’s senatorial campaign coffers have done nicely from big pharma as well. Open Secrets has his 2005-2006 PAC Contributions figures:
- Abbott Laboratories ? $2,500
- Baxter Healthcare ? $2,000
- Bristol-Myers Squibb ? $4,500
- Caremark RX ? $4,000
- Chiron Corp ? $1,000
- Eli Lilly & Co ? $8,000
- Genentech Inc ? $10,000
- GlaxoSmithKline ? $5,000
- Invitrogen Corp ? $3,500
- Johnson & Johnson ? $2,000
- Medtronic Inc ? $3,000
- Merck & Co ? $1,000
- Purdue Pharma ? $15,000
- Wyeth ? $2,500
I would not be at all surprised were Joe and Mrs Joe to do equally well from the US healthcare and insurance industry’s expansion overseas. The Guardian on US deputy health secretary Alex Azar’s press conference, again:
He also wanted to share the US experience of offering private insurance packages to people on Medicare – the healthcare scheme provided by the government to the poor and elderly. It might be possible for the UK government to consider something similar, he suggested, so that everyone could choose either a basic healthcare deal or top it up themselves if they wanted to pay for more than the state could afford.
All this is very co-incidental and circumstantial to be sure and anyone who makes any connection between Leiberman and Azar’s sudden, international drug push would be speculating wildly.
You might speculate wildly: I couldn’t possibly comment.
Read more: UK politics, US politics, Healthcare Bush, Joe Lieberman, Congressional election, Pharmaceutical industry lobbying
